This football season has been a winding road for the Compton High football team. With their home campus under full reconstruction, Compton (2-4, 1-2) has been unable to play a home game this season, but finally got the chance to play hosts on Friday night at Compton College. Unfortunately for Calvin Bryant’s squad, they were taking on Millikan (4-4, 3-1), and the Rams cruised to a 42-6 win on the road.
Millikan is now on the verge of locking up a playoff spot and appears headed to finishing in second place in the Moore League behind Long Beach Poly.
“I was probably more nervous going into this game than I have been in most of our other games because this was a huge game for us thinking about playoffs,” said Millikan head coach Romeo Pellum after the win. “This was a must win game for us. Traditionally, the last few years it’s been tough for us to stop the run. So our guys did a great job today calling it and the players did a great job of executing and making tackles. They did a great job.”
Millikan quarterback Myles Jackson was 12/21 for 194 yards, tossing touchdowns to four different receivers. Sophomore Ryan Pellum was his leading target, hauling in 9 of his 13 targets for an even 100 yards and a touchdown. Jackson also connected with Jhae Drummer (2 catches, 71 yards), Matt Martinez and Tacario Davis for scores.
Senior running back Ajae Gravelly opened the scoring with a nifty 10-yard TD run to cap the opening drive. Gravelly had 32 yards on that opening drive before the offense shifted to the passing game. Although Brody Wojcik busted out for a 55-yard scoring run early in the second quarter to give the Rams a 26-0 advantage.
Compton was without star running back Deon Johnson, who missed the game due to injury, but Erick Barrios helped pick up the slack in the running game. His 68-yard run late in the second quarter was Compton’s best play of the night to flip the field and get down to the Millikan 30. Barrios finished with 119 yards on 14 carries, accounting for a large chunk of Compton’s 183 yards on the ground.
Millikan led 32-0 at halftime, but Compton was able to hit the scoreboard on the first drive of the second half. After Barrios ran for 13 yards, it was freshman Jayrelle Bledsoe who capped the drive with a 41-yard touchdown scamper to make it a 32-6 game.
The loss puts Compton in a tough spot in the league standings with three games remaining, but hope is not lost for playoff contention. Millikan, meanwhile, will benefit from the bye week next week before hosting Cabrillo and Wilson to close the regular season.
Pellum has been pleased with how his team has handled the expectations during league play this season, taking care of business against less talented opponents.
“They're attacking every game with a ‘we're gonna win’ attitude,” Pellum explained. “Even in the Poly game, they weren't nervous, they weren't scared. No matter who we play, it doesn't matter, we have to go into that game prepared to have a dog fight. I think we're in a pretty good spot to go to the playoffs this year. These next two weeks it's really about getting our guys healthy while still maintaining our game speed and maintaining our strength.”
Compton will hit the road again next Friday night, taking on Poly at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
